Page:Wages in US 1908-1910.djvu/20

Rh at home. The question therefore very naturally arises,—"How many men in the United States are receiving wages which force them and their families to live under such abnormally bad conditions?"

A glance at another phase of the problem leads to the same question. A recent New York investigation concludes with the statement that a man, wife and three children under fourteen cannot live and maintain efficiency on Manhattan Island for less than nine hundred dollars per year. While no similar studies have been made in other cities, superficial investigations show that this figure is not excessive for Boston, Buffalo and Chicago; that it is low for Pittsburg, and probably a little high for Philadelphia and Baltimore. In other words, it is a fair average for the great cities east of the Mississippi and north of Virginia.

A student peruses this investigation and gleefully presents its conclusion to his "practical" friend. The practical friend is immediately convinced. "That sounds well enough," says he,